Should I Start A Business? Starting Your Legacy

Businesses are the product of brain storming, desire, determination, and guts

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Should I Start A Business? Are Businesses Risky?

Almost everyone asks themselves if they should start a business. However, the optimism and hope is quickly snuffed out by pessimism and despair. One of the reasons I heard that most people do not start businesses is because they are too risky. But are they? In short, not really. One thing I heard from someone who was talking about starting businesses is that arguably, they are less risky than going for a higher education. Think about both college and business. In respective consideration, the first requires money for sure, the latter does not necessarily have to and most times require less (not unless you want to start a business in a high rise instantly). Both require a significant amount of time and the returns in money are rarely if at all seen within the first few years of starting. Both could allow you to follow your dreams. And both require similar paper work. Boy, do they both require paperwork. They are more similar than you think.

Should I Start A Business With Small Potatoes?

Many people say that their business ideas cannot be obtained with money currently available. Most of the time they are right. However, you can downscale to make your endeavor more easily affordable. These could include production of inexpensive and popular products, marketing, or services. These are commonly called “small potatoes.”

For instance, my dream business is to start a nucleic acids synthesis business. Later on I could incorporate research into bioengineered organisms. This cannot be done on my wage right now and I do not want to go into debt while getting my PhD. One of these nucleic acid synthesizers costs as much as a new sports car, that does not include reagents which can be pricey.

However, labs require certain tools, including pipettes, to be cleaned, maintained, and calibrated frequently. I could start instead by cleaning and maintaining lab equipment to put myself out there and make decent money. Eventually, if the business does well I could work towards making customized nucleic acids and research into nucleic acids. These could be built off the reputation of my lab cleaning. While this could be considered “safe,” I like to think of it as beginner’s experience. A way to understand the market without diving in head first.

My little brother had a similar idea. He wanted to design an energy generator (I will not give details so do not ask). He later decided that that would be too ambitious for now. So he decided he could try some craft brewing before he tries that.

If you have a good business idea, see how you can downscale that idea. It will not cost much money nor time.

Getting Advice From Accountants And Lawyers

The best advice for when you start making money is to use some of that money to hire an accountant and a lawyer. You will make more money having both. The accountant is obvious, they will find legal ways to make sure the government keeps their hands off of your profits and allow yourself to invest more money.

The lawyer is a little less obvious, but having one will make sure you stay out of court instead of covering you while in court. I do not know all of the laws involved in business, if I did I would have tried to go for a law degree. Knowing how the law could prevent your products and services from damages. This could save you $100/hr at the least expensive rate. If you need to protect some product or intellectual property, that rate could easily go into $1000/hr.

One of my uncles had some run ins with lawyers at court when he was in business. His advice was that you will never avoid lawyers in business, the choice is if you want to have the meetings only in the lawyer’s office, or in their office and a court of law.

Get Insurance

The idea of lawyers already riles people up, why add insurance into the issue? A simple infraction could cost your business. One of my other uncles had a fire at his business. It took a while to get everything back up, but he is still in business thanks to the insurance.

Final Thoughts

Should you start a business? Give that more than a little thought. Starting a business can be very overwhelming, but it can be very rewarding. Keep in mind, many businesses fail sometimes even within the first year. However, according to the small business association, most do not. I have heard from many business advisers and business owners that failure is the key to success. I was expecting to hear some revolutionary reason for that, but they said it is simply a game of numbers and chance. You just have to keep trying.

Dave Ramsey’s advice is great to start your financial security. However, he focuses more about the financial part of an entrepreneur’s mentality while there is still much more to focus on.

One of my favorite books on how to start and maintain a business is The One Minute Entrepreneur by Ken Blanchard. This book centers around the idea that mentors in business can come from anywhere because the best advice you will ever hear is usually said in less than one minute. I know that is true. My best mentor’s best advice was surprisingly short.

Author: Papa Foxtrot

Most of my life I was careful with money and learned where I should invest it. I was very lucky to have parents who taught me financial literacy when I was young. Unfortunately, I am very lucky because many people lack the financial literacy I know. The purpose of Forge Your Wealth is to teach people who are just starting out in life how to obtain their wealth or anyone who just realized they may need to learn more to handle their finances.
I currently have a PhD in biochemistry, just started a job in industry (will not disclose where exactly for personal and professional reasons) and am currently married to the love of my life. I am one of the lucky few people in America who graduated with no student debts, my wife was not. Over the series of a little over 3 years we paid for our wedding with no debt and paid off her federal student loans.
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